12/14/2016 DAB Transcript

Today is the 14th day of
December. Welcome to the Daily Audio
Bible. I am, of course, Brian. It’s great to be here with you today for
another step forward. Not that many more
steps, friends, before we reach the end of the year. I can’t believe it but it’s true. We’ve been kind of sailing through a lot of
territory as things speed up here toward the end of the year, not only in our
lives because of the holidays, but because of the shortness of the books that
we’re moving through and today is no different.
We begin today a new book in the Old Testament, the book of Jonah.

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

Jonah is a book of prophesy that
has a twist. Jonah was a man in the 8th
century BCE, so a long time ago, who lived just north of Nazareth in the
northern kingdom of Israel during the reign for Jeroboam II. Although he was a prophet, his mission was
not to call Israel to repentance, nor was it to forecast the destruction of
Israel’s enemies. His mission was a
unique one that he wasn’t excited about at all.
His mission was to go to the land of Nineveh, enemies of God, enemies of
Israel, and call them to repentance. Of
course, like I just said, Jonah was not excited about that idea at all and his
pride and fear very quickly had him on a ship sailing in the other
direction. He’s way up in the north in
the Galilee and he comes all the way to the Mediterranean coast and Japha,
which is still a city today just outside of Tel Aviv, and he gets on a ship and
he goes in the opposite direction of Nineveh.
Of course, the story of Jonah is a famous one. Jonah ends up in the belly of a whale and
after three days of repentance he is spit up on the shore alive.

So there are obvious
foreshadowings of Jesus in this story and there are also obvious parallels to
our own lives. When we allow fear and
pride to lead us, this fear of man that we were talking about yesterday, when
we allow this to rule and govern us and lead us into disobedience, well then
all we can do is find ourselves on the run.
But running from God, not only is it stupid, it’s impossible. God loves us enough to never stop pursuing us
and although Jonah found himself in the belly of a whale, that whale became his
salvation. He would have drowned for
sure in the open sea in a storm and although the journey must have been
unspeakably uncomfortable and gross, God used the whale to deliver him alive
and well on the shore, giving him a second chance which he takes.

There are a lot more nuances to
this as we get into the story, but we may find our journey similar. It is important to consider the fact that
maybe God is not punishing us. Maybe
we’re in the belly of the whale and God is rescuing and saving us because we’ve
been on the run and it’s not working.

So we begin, from the English
Standard Version today, the book of Jonah, chapter 1 verse 1 through 4 verse
11.

Commentary

Alright, the story of Jonah is
riveting because it is so full of tension and drama and humanity, but it is
like a mirror of our own lives in so many ways.

Jonah gets this call from God and
he is invited to do something he doesn’t want to do. Part of that has to be the fear of man, like
we were talking about yesterday. He does
not want to go to Nineveh, God’s enemies, and call them to repentance. They are God’s enemies, so they are enemies
of the people. If he goes there and
calls them to reconciliation with God and repentance and they hear him and God
spares them, then how is he going to go back and face the people? He can go back and say, “I just did what God
told me to do,” but they are enemies. So
there is that layer going on and then there is just the fact that he hates
these people. He does not want them to
be spared by God. He wants justice. He wants God’s mighty hand to fall and burn
up the city and get rid of their enemies, so there is that layer going on.

It all conspires to put him on
the run and he runs a long way, from Nazareth to Japha, which is a pretty good
distance, especially if you don’t have a car and he didn’t, so it is a good
way. He is already on foot on the run
before he gets on a ship on the run to go further away from God, but God is
having none of it. We know the
story. It is really, really remarkable
because God redeems Jonah. God could
have been like, “Well, you got what you deserved. Now you are food for the fish,” but instead
God redeems. God rescues.

There are times that we’re in the
process of being rescued where we are still upset about the situation. Because being in the belly of a whale for
Jonah had to be – I don’t even know how to think about what that would be like,
other than probably unpleasant. Probably
thoroughly unpleasant in every sensory way and terrifying, but here he is in
this very uncomfortable, very weird place but it is also the thing that is
keeping him alive. So Jonah gets spit up,
back alive on dry ground.

God is always rescuing us. Sometimes we’re still thrashing in the
rescue, like a drowning person who is panicking and the lifeguard or rescue
forces come to extract a person, but it becomes dangerous for the rescuer
because the person is panicking and flailing and thrashing and all they need to
do is be still and be rescued. We do
this stuff all the time.

Once Jonah is in the whale, he
begins to pray. He knows what is going
on and he gets spit up on the ground. So
he still has to make the long journey to Nineveh and it is a long journey from
the coast of the Mediterranean all the way across the desert to Nineveh, a
long, long, long way. I imagine news of
what was going on with Jonah probably started to spread and probably gave his
message a lot more weight than it would have had, had he just gone. Had he just gone, he would have obeyed God
and the people would have had the opportunity to repent, but the story of the
whale, if that was making itself known around the countryside and got its way
to Nineveh, well that would make people pay attention to what Jonah had to
say.

When Jonah spoke, the people all
the way to the king responded and the city was spared and Jonah is outside the
city just fuming. He is so upset that he
is like, “I just want to die!” It is so
funny, but it is so tragic because it is so like our lives in all of the
thrashing and all the things that we say.
God’s message is ultimately, “This is not your call, little buddy. I mean, who are you to decide whether or not
I spare these hundreds of thousands of people?”
Why can’t I, who created all of this, invite anyone I choose to stop
going on the path of destruction and return to a place that will keep them
safe? Who are you to decide this?” God is just saying, “Why can’t I rescue
people who don’t even know what is going on, who don’t know their right hand
from their left? Why can’t I rescue
them?”

It’s funny because he’s like,
“Just kill me. I’m angry enough to
die!” And what is he angry enough to die
about? Because God asked him to do
something he didn’t want to do. Oh, that
is close to home there. God wanted him
to go and rescue and be his voice to his enemies. Yeah, that is all through the Bible and that
is all through our lives. So if we’re
feeling like we’re in the belly of the whale because we know we’ve been on the
run and we know there are some things we need to reconcile, there are some
people that have become enemies that we would just as soon see lightning bolts
cast upon so that they get what they deserve, but God is saying no, I actually
want you to be part of the redeeming story in their lives, I want you to set
aside what you think you know and stop this fear of man and swallow this pride
that has poisoned you and I want you to be part of the redemption story, well,
may we consider the story of Jonah as we proceed.

Prayer

Father, we invite you into
that. It is close to the bone on a
number of levels for sure. There are a
lot of layers here, but they touch us in the soft spots. So rather than continuing the run, we invite
your Holy Spirit to come, rescue us, Lord.
Reshape the way we’re looking at things, the way that we’re looking at
our enemies, the way that we’re looking at those we fear, those that we have
marginalized, and let us see that we don’t really have a say here. You choose who you want to redeem and you
have come to redeem the world, so that means you have come to redeem those that
maybe we’re not on good terms with or maybe that we’ve just had these attitudes
toward, people groups that are just like, yeah, let’s do away with it, let’s
just be done with it, when that may not be your plan of redemption. Help us, Lord, to pray for our enemies and
love those who hate us and live like Jesus.
Come, we pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home
base. It’s the website. It is where you find out what is going on
around here and we have these three items that are important right now:

1. Call
in your Christmas greeting while you can.
The number to call is (877) 942-4253.
And, yeah, you can just call up and say whatever you want to say to the
whole community about the holidays, about Christmastime. We compile all this together and make a
Christmas party out of it and we call it the Daily Audio Bible Family
Christmas. It’s a lot of fun, so looking
forward to putting that together. Make
sure you get your call in. Now that is
the prayer request line, so don’t call in a Christmas greeting that is combined
with a prayer request. Keep them
separate and that will keep everything moving in the right direction. But be sure to call.

2. The
Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box. That is
available and chockful of resources, some that you’ll want to keep, some that
you’ll want to give away. So we’re in
the final days before those are sold out.
Be sure to grab yours while you can.
You can find out everything about it at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the
Shop.

3. It
is advance registration time for the More Gathering that will take place this
coming April 6-9. We do advance
registration at this time because it is an opportunity to maybe get one of the
most powerful and unique Christmas gifts for the woman in your life that is
very, very specific and very, very unique.
So check that out at www.DailyAudioBible.com
in the Initiatives section. Every detail
you would want to know about the More Gathering, that is contained there. So take advantage of that while you can.

If you want to partner with the Daily
Audio Bible here in these final days of the year, then we thank you from a
humble and true place. Literally the
Daily Audio Bible doesn’t exist if we don’t do what we’re doing together, so
thank you humbly, deeply, honestly for your partnership in keeping everything
moving forward. There is a link on the
home page. If you use the app, you can
push the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the
mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a
prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian.
I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey. I got behind major, but I finally caught
up. Going on six years listening. Man, I’ve had a rough year and also I guess
early summer I got in a fight and got stabbed behind the knee which crippled me
and I lost everything, became homeless.
There has been so much heartbreak and broken relationships that have
come from that and stuff even before that event. I don’t know, but I need some teeth and I
need reconciliation with people. I need
a forgiving heart and I need others to forgive me. So please pray for me. Thanks.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. It’s James, the teacher in LA, and this
prayer is being sent to Rebecca from Michigan calling in about feeling lonely
and concerned about being alone at Christmas and the holidays. Father God, I pray for Rebecca and for all
the other single people in our Daily Audio Bible family, particularly those who
don’t have a lot of close friends to spend that time with. Lord, I pray that first of all you would make
your presence known to them, even as they hear this prayer, knowing that I
wouldn’t be responding, Lord, if you hadn’t moved your Spirit in me to respond,
Lord, that your Spirit in me is the same Spirit in them, that you are in all of
us, that you are present to all us. I
pray that they would feel your presence in this moment and all throughout the
holiday season. I pray that they would
learn to hear you and feel you in the stillness, Lord, and that in the time of
being quiet and being alone, that they would be able to tune in to you more
closely, get closer to your heart, hear what you have to say into their lives
so that they can follow you and just get closer to your heart. In Jesus’ name, amen. Rebecca, if I lived in Michigan, my wife and
I lived in Michigan, we would invite you over, but sorry about that. Yeah, do you have people you volunteer with
or anything? See if they want to go do
stuff with you, even if it is just inexpensive.
Who knows? Love you guys. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Hi everyone. This is Reginald M. from Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada. It’s just a little bit
after 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon the 10th of December. My email address is KeepersoftheEarthOwner@gmail.com. Pastor Gene, thank you for mentioning me in
your prayer request/message as Keeper of the Earth. Thank you for your prayer support. I thank you, everyone, for having prayed for
my son. December 4th was his
5th birthday and it was the first birthday I was able to celebrate
with my son in three years and it was a very nice day for the two of us to
spend together, a couple hours. I also
want to give you some advice from a heart filled with love. Pastor Gene, you’re always the majority no
matter what the odds are against you, especially walking in obedience to Christ
and you’re walking with Christ. Number
two, there is something that I would consider the root principle. When Ruth was in the fields gleaning from the
edges of the fields, she was still blessed by God and singled out by another
man who was watching out for her. Being
in that situation, I would be looking for more positive opportunity after
another or one glimmer of hope after another and just trust God with the
process completely and watch what he does for you as far as opening doors and
maybe even getting you out of there sooner than you imagined. Have a great day everyone. I love you all. God bless.
Bye for now.

Father, I come humbly in prayer
before your throne once again because you’re Almighty God and the deliverer of
all men. There are so many people among
us who are hurting and in pain, with very serious problems, __________ and
tears fall like rain. You said you keep
in a skin bag each and every one of our tears.
You said every hair on our head is numbered and you know the sum of all
of our years. You said you had written
down in your book every one of our parts before even one of them was ever
formed and only you know our hearts. And
on top of that, you offered us adoption as sons once our hearts had conformed
so we come to you through Jesus, humble, tired and worn, walking by faith to
this place we consider safe. But then we have all these problem that won’t go
away, even though we cry out to you day after day. Like people with cancer and people who need a
liver and so many other problems, Father, from which only you can deliver. Strengthen us, Father, so we can endure to
the end and if our faith gets a little bit shaky, please revive us again and
help us to see that when we’re under such strong attack, that it is really just
the wicked one trying hard to turn us back.
Help us, Father, to commit ourselves anew. Help us to surrender all completely unto you. BlindTony1016@gmail.com. I have to give a shout-out to Pelham and
Molly. Didn’t you say that you all were
about to have a baby around Christmastime?
It is around time. It’s time for
you all to check in, Pelham and Molly.
Let us know what is happening with the baby report. And once again…

Hey Daily Audio Bible. This is Pelham from Birmingham calling. Just wanted to call. Apparently the Holy Spirit wants me to reach
out to Mark from the Four Corners region again.
I think he called like on the 5th, maybe a day or two after
that, but he was battling addiction and an addiction to pornography. I’ve
faced both of those things, so I feel.
Man, you’re on my mind and I’m praying for you and you have the victory
already. Don’t let the enemy lie to you. Exposing it like you’ve done and bringing
light to it is the first step toward victory over that. I also just wanted to call because I need
international prayer because I’m going to be a father any day now and I’m scared. I’m not sure.
I definitely don’t know what it is going to be like and I want to raise
up a wonderful child that is a world changer.
I don’t deserve a child, but God in his grace has blessed my life so much. So pray for me and Molly. I just wanted to reach out. Hope everyone is doing great. Blind Tony, you’re on my mind as well. Thanks guys.

Hello. I’m calling from southwest Florida and I just
want to thank everyone involved with the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been listening for several years and I’ve
never called in, but I feel like the enemy has been keeping me from doing that and
today my husband said something. He said
we need 1000 prayers for our son. I thought
where can I get 1000 prayer warriors? And
then I realized I could get more than 1000 through the Daily Audio Bible. So I’m asking you to pray for my son,
Danny. He is a 29-year-old wonderful
young man with a degree, very bright, but has just not found his way and is
struggling with the things of the world.
I just pray that he’ll surrender to God and give up all of those things that
are holding him down. There is nothing
we can do. We’re putting him at the foot
of the cross, but I would so appreciate prayer warriors for my son, God’s will
be done in his life. Thank you all so much.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
Thank you.